Local History: Mob of men went after Levi McCave in 1863

Levi McCave was the kind of guy who wouldn’t back down from a fight, as long as the odds were no more than 4 to 1 against him. But when he faced an angry mob of 100 men out for his blood, even McCave knew it was time to run for his life.

Levi McCave was the kind of guy who wouldn’t back down from a fight, as long as the odds were no more than 4 to 1 against him.

But when he faced an angry mob of 100 men out for his blood, even McCave knew it was time to run for his life.

McCave was a famous scrapper from the Freeport area who lived in the mid-19th century, when alcohol-fueled fights were common at all public events.

He was born in Guernsey County in 1836, son of John McCave, a teamster who hauled wheat from Freeport to Port Washington and Lock Seventeen, shipping points on the Ohio & Erie Canal. Perhaps Levi inherited some of his rough-and-tumble qualities from his father.

R.M. Black, in his early history of Freeport, wrote that John McCave and his fellow teamsters were “hardy, tough and fearless. The winter’s blasts nor summer’s heat interfered in no way with their business.”

In 1856, Levi married Delilah Martin, and they became the parents of eight children. They settled in Perry Township, near Westchester, where Levi worked as a farm laborer. Becoming a husband and father did little to temper his pugnacious nature.

McCave’s most famous fight occurred in 1863, during the heated gubernatorial race between Republican John Brough and Democrat Clement L. Vallandigham.

Vallandigham was a notorious opponent of the Civil War and outspoken in his criticism of President Abraham Lincoln. Because of his anti-war activities, he was exiled from the United States and conducted his campaign from Canada.

That fall, Democrats held a Vallandigham rally in Freeport, said to have been the largest gathering of people in the town up to that time. Delegations came from all the surrounding towns — Cadiz, Antrim, Moorefield, Westchester, Sewellsville and Hendrysburg. The meeting was held about a half mile west of town on the Colvin farm, at the foot of Paddy Hill.

“The speakers, of which there were quite a number, were up near the fence and the vast audience was seated below down to the level, around which were various stands or booths for the sale of eatables and drinkables,” Henry W. Wilson wrote for the Freeport Press in a reminiscence published in 1903. “I don’t know that anything intoxicating was sold, but quite a number were under the influence.”

When Wilson arrived at the rally, he found Levi McCave, a staunch Republican, surrounded by a crowd of excited men. The fists started to fly, and one after another, McCave’s foes began to fall.

Soon, though, the odds were against McCave, and he started for the highway, with more than a hundred angry men in pursuit.

“At the road, he made another stand,” Wilson wrote. “Being fleet of foot, he had a little time to prepare for the onrushing crowd who were loudly yelling, ‘Kill him!’ ‘Kill him!’ ”

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At that moment, Freeport resident William McMath intervened, trying to bring peace. He convinced McCave to go back to town, but not before McCave had knocked out a couple more foes over McMath’s shoulders.

That angered the crowd anew. McCave got away again, running to the nearby bridge over Big Stillwater Creek. There, he met a man on horseback. McCave pulled the rider off his horse and climbed into the saddle, spurring the horse up the hill to Freeport.

Back in town, Quaker businessman Thomas Green kept McCave out of sight. That prevented more trouble. Otherwise, “much blood would have been shed, for Levi had many friends because of his loyalty to his country and party,” Wilson wrote.

McCave died in Freeport Township on Dec. 23, 1879, at age 43.

Jon Baker is a reporter for The Times-Reporter. He can be reached via email at jon.baker@timesreporter.com.